Homemade Mexican Fried ice cream

I love Mexican fried ice cream. I get it every year at the County Fair and whenever it’s on the dessert menu at a restaurant. Creamy vanilla ice cream encrusted with a cinnamon crunchy exterior and drizzled with chocolate and whipped cream, what’s not to love?

Making Mexican fried ice cream is actually not that hard but I never thought about making my own until now. The Mexican fried ice creams I’ve had have in the past are not actually fried. Instead, the ice cream is encrusted with corn flakes dusted with cinnamon. This gives the feeling that you are eating fried ice cream because the ice cream has a crunchy crust. And in my opinion, it’s better than eating real fried ice cream which melts way too quickly. Plus it’s healthier too. (Pic on the left is Mexican fried ice cream at the Fair. On the right is pic from El Torito)

It’s funny how the idea to make this came about. It all started with my Starbucks giveaway post. A reader I’ve mentioned in the past, Meryl aka Chocolate Goddess, left me a comment on the post suggesting I try Starbucks’ line of ice cream available at most grocery stores. Since I’ve loved all her other suggestions, I immediately put it on my grocery list (And she was right. I loved the vanilla frappuccino and the java chip ones I got) and we emailed back and forth about it for a while.

She then included a recipe I could use with the ice cream, for a Mexican Sundae, which contained bits of shredded coconut and a cinnamon chocolate sauce. This then reminded me of my love for Mexican fried ice cream and I came to the realization that I could recreate my own Mexican fried ice cream based on ones I’ve eaten in the past, plus I wanted to add incorporate the cinnamon chocolate sauce.

I played around with it this weekend, and then came up with this. You can of course douse the ice cream in whipped cream and top with a cherry like I’ve seen before, but I wanted to show the fried ice cream. I also opted to not put whipped cream and instead added another scoop of ice cream because I really love my ice cream. I tried this with cornflakes and then I tried it again with the flakes from Honey Bunches of Oats. I preferred the latter because of the different flakes, but either one works.

This was delicious and so easy to make. Now that I know I can make this at home, I can save myself some money, especially with the fair just a few weeks away.

Homemade Mexican Fried Ice Cream

Servings: 4

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Mexican

Inspired by the state fair this homemade Mexican fried ice cream is a fun dessert and easy to make.

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Ingredients

• 1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream or ice cream flavor of your choice
• 1 1/2 cups cornflakes or flakes from Honey Bunches of oats
• 2 tsp cinnamon for cereal
• 4 oz bittersweet chocolate chopped
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 tsp cinnamon for chocolate sauce
• whipped cream optional

Instructions

• Heat heavy cream on stove. Once it begins to boil, remove from heat and pour into a medium glass bowl that contains chopped chocolate. Add in the 1tsp cinnamon and stir with a whisk until chocolate is completely melted.
• Let ice cream soften slightly on counter for a few minutes so that it will be easy to scoop. Pour cereal into a medium sizes bowl. I crushed my flakes slightly so that they would be smaller. Sprinkle 2 tsp of cinnamon and mix so that cereal is coated in the cinnamon.
• Take an ice cream scoop and scoop one generous round scoop of ice cream. Then remove the scoop and place directly into the cereal bowl. Roll the ice cream ball around until all sides are coated with cereal. Gently remove ice cream and place into serving bowl.
• Top with whipped cream if desired, or in my case, an additional scoop of vanilla ice cream. Then drizzle with chocolate. I put the chocolate sauce into a ziploc bag, cut a tiny hole and then piped it out. You can also garnish with a few cinnamon dusted tortilla chips, as I've seen them do at the fair.

The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.

Did you make this recipe?I'd love to see it! Mention @KirbieCravings and tag #kirbiecravings!